Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 49 - Attack (4)

Chapter 49 – Attack (4)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Could this really be described merely as him having changed?

No matter how bad their relationship was, Madam Seok was still his mother in name, yet Mok Gyeong-un was calmly telling him to sacrifice her.

At those words, Mok In-dan was shocked enough for goosebumps to rise all over his body.

It went beyond mere change.

Far beyond it.

It was as though the person himself had been replaced.

Then Mok Gyeong-un whispered in a sweet voice.

“She is the woman who tried to let the Manor Lord die and give everything to her own son. Is she worth hesitating over?”

‘This brat……’

Whether it was true or not was not what mattered.

Mok Gyeong-un was giving him an emotional justification that would let him make a cruel choice.

As the head trying to save an entire group, and as a person, it was reason enough to tempt him.

But,

‘No.’

Mok In-dan bit his lip hard.

Then he released Mok Gyeong-un’s wrist and quietly rebuked him.

“I cannot trust your words.”

“But they are the truth.”

“……..Even if what you say is true, it cannot be called right to save others by sacrificing someone. And……”

Manor Lord Mok In-dan looked at the face of Madam Seok, who was backing away.

Her terrified eyes showed strong denial.

He knew because she was his wife.

If she had done something, she would rather brazen it out than react like that.

‘As I thought, no.’

Which meant,

“If that was your doing, then let me tell you it was foolish.”

“Foolish?”

“Yes. And now is not the time to be doing this with you.”

-Pat!

With those words, Mok In-dan moved to stop Son Yun the Fate Blade King as he walked toward Madam Seok.

But before he could do so,

-Kwachik!

Son Yun, who had seemed to be going to do something to her, instead crushed the earring in his hand.

Letting the shattered earring fall to the floor, he said,

“It seems there is someone here who dislikes the Manor Lord’s wife.”

“Pardon?”

Overwhelmed by Son Yun’s fierce killing intent, she stammered back, drenched in cold sweat.

Then Son Yun let out a cold laugh and said,

“It seems someone within Yeon Mok Sword Manor either wanted to frame you or kill by borrowing another’s knife.”

Kill by borrowing another’s knife.

It literally meant killing with another person’s blade.

At those words, the frightened Madam Seok’s tension broke, and perhaps because the strength left her legs, she collapsed to her knees.

Exuding killing intent, Son Yun swept the people of Yeon Mok Sword Manor with a sharp gaze and said,

“Did you think I would fall for such a trick?”

At that, Manor Lord Mok In-dan gritted his teeth and shot Mok Gyeong-un a look.

‘See?’

This was exactly what he had meant by a foolish move.

If one looked at the forest rather than the trees, the circumstances became clear enough.

What culprit would leave such blatant traces behind?

Rather, it only made it obvious that it had been left by an enemy.

‘A bad move.’

No matter how clever he acted, this was the limit of a scheme that had come from the head of someone who was only seventeen.

Mok In-dan whispered sharply to Mok Gyeong-un.

“Things have gotten worse. No more. Hand it over.”

“That is unfortunate.”

“What?”

“I was hoping we would be lucky.”

“At a time like this you are saying…..”

It happened right then.

-Chwak!

Son Yun the Fate Blade King swung his tachi and severed the neck of one of Yeon Mok Sword Manor’s warriors.

It happened so quickly that no one had a chance to stop it.

“Fate Blade King!”

-Chaeng!

Furious, Manor Lord Mok In-dan drew his sword and shouted.

At that, Son Yun merely shrugged and said lightly,

“It was your side that broke the agreement, so why glare at me? Hear me, people of Yeon Mok Sword Manor.”

-Hear me! Hear me! Hear me!

His voice, carrying inner force, boomed out like an echo.

Those around him clapped hands to their ears, pained by the ringing in their eardrums.

‘So he was not using his full strength.’

Mok In-dan’s expression darkened.

The depth of Son Yun’s power was far greater than what he had judged from that single exchange earlier.

Even if his body had been sound, this was not an opponent he could have beaten.

Regardless, Son Yun continued speaking.

“I will give you one last chance. If you wish to live, hand that over. If not, tell me who stands to gain the most if the Manor Lord’s wife dies.”

At that cry, Madam Seok, still kneeling on the ground and controlling her breathing, trembled at the corners of her lips.

She had never imagined she would suffer such humiliation because of that damned Mok Gyeong-un.

At first she had kept quiet because she feared the Manor Lord’s eyes on her, but now that that brat had acted like this, she was in no position to keep covering for anyone.

Madam Seok parted her lips.

“Sir Son….”

But before she could finish speaking,

someone suddenly raised a hand and shouted.

“I know who committed this!”

The one who shouted was none other than Ho Aeng.

At that sight, Madam Seok shut her mouth at once.

It would be far better if a loyal guard warrior exposed the truth out of devotion than if she spoke herself.

“You know who it was?”

“Yes.”

At that, Son Yun the Fate Blade King wiped the blood from his blade and said in a voice full of killing intent,

“If it is a lie, you will pay with your life.”

“If something happens to the First Madam, the position of the manor’s eldest young master will also suffer. Therefore, there are those who would gain an advantage in the succession struggle.”

At those words, the gazes of Yeon Mok Sword Manor’s warriors split in two without anyone intending it.

The ones they looked toward were none other than the second son Mok Eun-pyeong and the youngest, Mok Yu-cheon.

After all, people could not help where their eyes naturally turned.

Mok Eun-pyeong cried out in alarm.

“W, what kind of nonsense are you spouting right now?”

Mok Yu-cheon was no different.

“Guard Ho, that is insolence. Why would I ever do such a thing?”

Both of them reacted as if deeply wronged.

That was only natural.

Because neither had done it.

But what was odd was that not a single person looked at Mok Gyeong-un in response to Ho Aeng’s words.

‘This……’

Manor Lord Mok In-dan frowned.

Looking at how Mok Gyeong-un had bargained with him, if anyone had schemed something, it had surely been this child.

And yet when Ho Aeng spoke of those who would gain in the succession struggle, not one person in Yeon Mok Sword Manor turned their gaze toward Mok Gyeong-un.

That too was only natural, since he had neither power nor any real chance.

At that moment, Son Yun the Fate Blade King looked back and forth between Mok Eun-pyeong and Mok Yu-cheon and said,

“It sounds plausible, but how am I to believe it?”

“There is something that may serve as evidence.”

“Evidence? Hooh. Speak, girl.”

‘Evidence?’

At those words from Ho Aeng, Madam Seok furrowed her brows.

Had there been anything that could truly be called evidence?

As she stood there puzzled, Ho Aeng said,

“Besides the thing Sir Son is seeking, there were secret manuals in the underground medicine hall that only the Manor Lord of Yeon Mok Sword Manor can cultivate. The one holding those manuals must be the one who did this!”

‘!!!!!!’

At Ho Aeng’s words, two people were simultaneously unable to hide their shock.

They were Mok Yu-cheon and Madam Seok, who held the originals of the Yeon Mok Flower Heart Art and the Yeon Mok Star Sword Formula, even if only the cover and two pages of each remained.

Both of them shouted in panic.

“That is not true!”

“Ho Aeng, you!”

After shouting together, they saw all eyes focus on them and were instantly flustered.

They should never have reacted like that to Ho Aeng’s words.

Now it was obvious those people would search their residences.

‘Ha!’

Seeing them like that, Manor Lord Mok In-dan looked toward Mok Gyeong-un.

At the sight of him watching as though this were some amusing spectacle, Mok In-dan’s pupils trembled.

[If by luck everyone can be saved through the sacrifice of that one woman, would that not be a good thing in its own way?]

[That is unfortunate. I was hoping we would be lucky.]

The things Mok Gyeong-un had said passed through his mind.

The luck that he had spoken of had not meant what Mok In-dan had taken it to mean.

“You…….”

Wearing a faint smile, Mok Gyeong-un whispered,

“This is a serious problem. Something that could have been finished with one person is now entangled with everyone. At this rate, forget the secret manual, that frightening gentleman is going to insist on killing everyone.”

* * *

[What? You want me to put this earring into that wooden box?]

[Yes.]

[Sentient creature, are you an idiot?]

[What about it?]

[If you put it there, who would believe it belonged to that old sentient-creature woman? They would only suspect it was the work of someone targeting that Madam Seok woman.]

[Yes. That is exactly the point.]

[What?]

[Why do you think I gave them a secret manual that is little more than a shell?]

[You….. don’t tell me?]

[If the Manor Lord wakes up, think of it as a small precaution. Just a light little prank.]

[A light little prank? You really are good at petty scheming.]

* * *

Originally, it had been a precaution for when the Manor Lord woke and checked the hidden space.

It had unfolded differently from what he intended, but thanks to that, the confusion had only grown.

Mok Gyeong-un curled his lips into a vicious smile and said,

“Would it not be better to speak of that wound now rather than regret it after losing people one by one?”

-Clench.

Manor Lord Mok In-dan ground his teeth.

‘What in the world is this bastard……’

By now, he no longer even thought of him as his son.

He had never seen someone so terrifyingly cunning.

The sight of him holding the danger of Yeon Mok Sword Manor hostage to get what he wanted was so absurd it was almost frightening.

“What will you do?”

There was no longer any room for choice.

At last, Mok In-dan said,

“…….Bring the secret manual and hand it to that man. Then I will tell you.”

“That is not how bargaining works.”

“You truly!”

“There is not much time.”

Glowering at Mok Gyeong-un with a twisted face, Mok In-dan’s cheeks quivered before he finally forced the words out.

“Seventeen years ago, in Yongmen of Guangdong Province, I received that wound from someone called the Ghost Sword.”

“Ghost Sword?”

“You……. do not tell me you do not know who the Ghost Sword is?”

There was no way he would know.

Mok Gyeong-un had only recently begun learning martial arts, so there was no way he knew the ecology of the martial world.

“Who is the Ghost Swor…..”

But before he could finish the question,

-Ttallangtallang!

The sound of bells was heard.

In an instant, everyone’s gaze turned that way.

“Occult Practitioner Jo.”

Son Yun the Fate Blade King called out to the figure stepping over the hall threshold.

It was a middle-aged man wearing an eyepatch painted with the shape of a snake and leaning on a staff.

Yet what puzzled everyone even more than his arrival was something else: the bells hanging at his waist were ringing on their own though he was not moving them at all.

‘What in the world is that?’

As they looked on in confusion, the eyepatched middle-aged man called Occult Practitioner Jo spoke.

“A strange phenomenon is playing tricks.”

“A strange phenomenon?”

“A strange phenomenon is trying to steal a person’s shell.”

-Pak!

At that instant, he swept his staff through the air and formed a hand seal with his left hand while chanting a spell.

“Divine writing obeys, the gods protect, let this place know peace, demons be subdued and evil be bound, Five Peaks Supreme Lord, haste, by order!”

-Taaang!

The moment the incantation ended, the middle-aged man slammed the staff against the ground.

At the same time, an invisible ripple spread and a fierce wind rose in an instant.

-Paaang!

“Aaaaaaagh!”

The moment the wind brushed past her, Ho Aeng, Madam Seok’s guard, suddenly clutched her head and screamed madly.

Those around her could not hide their shock.

Dark veins bulged grotesquely around Ho Aeng’s neck.

“W, what is this?”

-Dududeudeuk!

Ho Aeng’s eyes rolled back and her entire body convulsed violently.

Everyone hastily fell back from around her.

-Ulkkeok, ulkkeok!

Though not as extreme as Ho Aeng, there was another person whose stomach suddenly churned, and that was Gochan.

The moment the wind brushed past him, he felt nauseous and as though he might throw up.

But once he drew up inner power and spread protective qi, he felt somewhat better.

“Hoo… hoo…”

Gochan looked at Ho Aeng.

In Gochan’s ghost eyes, he could see the demon monk writhing in pain inside Ho Aeng’s body.

Perhaps because the body itself was only second-rate and he had only just possessed it, he could not endure it.

In the end,

-Paaaak!

He was flung out of the possessed body.

Ho Aeng, who had been convulsing in agony, collapsed on the spot as though she had fainted.

-Thud.

Seeing this, the corners of Occult Practitioner Jo’s lips rose.

“I shall exorcise you.”

Then he took out an imperial talisman incantation strip from his waist, attached it to his staff, and shouted,

“By imperial talisman and command, divine soldiers and divine generals transform, haste, by order!”

With that, he threw the staff.

-Shuk!

Amazingly, the staff shot out straight like an arrow.

To everyone else, it looked as though it were flying toward empty air where no one stood, but there the demon monk was still staggering, unable to recover from his pain.

But before the staff, carrying mysterious power, could reach the demon monk,

-Pak!

Someone caught it midway.

“That is a troublesome thing to do.”

It was none other than Mok Gyeong-un.

At this sight, the eyepatched middle-aged Occult Practitioner Jo could not hide his surprise.

‘No?’

To catch a staff carrying an imperial talisman and an incantation barehanded, even for someone from a martial family, was no ordinary feat.

But what truly shocked him was not that.

Occult Practitioner Jo narrowed his eyes and glared at Mok Gyeong-un as he said,

“You……..can see vengeful spirits.”

At those words, the surroundings erupted in commotion.